Chicago -
By Emory Hunt
Bears key on offense: Convert third downs. The last time these teams played, the Bears were 0-for-12 on third-down conversions. They lost.
Bears key on defense: Make Hasselbeck move; live in the Seahawks’ backfield.
Pick: Seattle.
Posted on January 13, 2011
By Dan O’Shea
The snow is piling up outside my window on the Far Northwest Side as I write this, but I’m thinking about baseball. Is it the Cubs’ recent acquisition of Matt Garza? The White Sox’ recent signing of Will Ohman? (Well, I know it’s not that.)
There has been a fair amount of hot stove activity this winter, and I feel like we’re set for a really exciting baseball season, not one dominated by pitchers like last year, but one in which fantasy numbers on both hitting and pitching fronts soar to new heights. Just a hunch . . .
Anyway, this has gotten me thinking about fantasy baseball draft rankings, so here’s my very preliminary take on the top 10 picks (Subject to change sometime after spring training actually starts):
Posted on January 12, 2011
By Jim Coffman
Looking back at the immediate aftermath of the Seahawks beating the Saints and setting up a battle with the Bears next weekend, the worst thing was all the broadcast commentary and all the printed stories about how Seattle had showed the sporting world it was wrong to scoff at its playoff credentials.
Shame on those who had ridiculed the Seahawks, it was said and written, for being the first team in a non-strike year to win a division with a losing record and for needing to win the Super Bowl to finish the season with more wins than losses (if they make it that far but lose, they will finish 10-10). They were a division champ after all, just like all the other division champs. They had done what they had to do to win the NFC West and they were just as worthy as any other team in the playoffs.
Posted on January 10, 2011
By Thomas Chambers
You had to wonder if Paul Newman even cared about winning an Academy Award. He seemed too cool for that.
Nonetheless, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must have panicked when they realized in 1985 that they had never honored one of the greatest actors of our time and gave him a lifetime achievement award.
And the following year the Academy gave him a real acting Oscar for The Color of Money. (As great as Newman always was, The Color of Money?)
I don’t know about Cool Hand, but I’ll tell you this: Zenyatta couldn’t give a damn whether she wins the 2010 Horse of the Year trophy on January 17 when the horsey people gather in Miami Beach for the 2010 Eclipse Awards, racing’s Oscars.
She’s lucky she’s a horse. So is her rival for the award, Blame. They don’t have to listen to the bickering. Their feelings won’t be hurt.
Posted on January 7, 2011
For the sake of assuming that the Bears aren’t terrible, let’s just say Mike Martz was playing it close to the vest against the Packers, or putting some red herrings on tape for the remainder of the NFC. Any conceivably real strategy couldn’t have yielded much worse of a result than what the offense produced in the second half, which for those of you scoring at home, amounted to zero points best illustrated by a potpourri of crappiness sprayed in all over a drive chart like some Pollock-ine . . . Pollock-esque . . . evocative of Pollock . . .
Anyway, judge for yourself what four punts, two interceptions and the obligatory turnover on downs looks like when committed to canvas.
With a meaningless game undeserving of any further analysis, let’s begin the playoff discussion.
Posted on January 7, 2011
By Dan O’Shea
Fantasy basketball is much more affected by player injuries than either fantasy baseball or fantasy football.
Baseball has a formal disabled list, and many fantasy leagues provide a DL slot that allows you to temporarily park one or two players without losing them for the season, and then pick up replacements on the waiver wire.
And while some of you might argue that pro football’s system of “Probable,” “Questionable,” “Doubtful,” etc. can wreak havoc with fantasy teams on a weekly basis, once a player has established a pattern of being injured for a couple games, the decision to drop him becomes a lot easier because the season is so few games, and players need to log a lot of healthy practices to get decent playing time and touches.
Not so in fantasy basketball, in which there is no DL and a heck of a lot of games.
Posted on January 5, 2011
By The Beachwood Job Search Affairs Desk
The Cubs and WGN-AM are still looking for an analyst, ahem, to replace Ron Santo. The Beachwood has learned that the list of candidates includes the following.
*
Candidate: Ronald McDonald
Pros: Organization already clown-friendly. And he’s got a ton of land in Oak Brook for club to move to if city residents keep refusing to pay for stadium improvements.
Cons: Requires large makeup staff, even for radio; refuses to eat bison.
*
Candidate: Steve Stone
Pros: He’ll provide an honest, critical assessment of the Cubs.
Cons: He’ll provide an honest, critical assessment of the Cubs.
*
Candidate: Rahm Emanuel
Pros: Has residency.
Cons: Broadcast would need permanent seven-second delay
Posted on January 4, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
What was that all about?
The defense made a comeback, the offensive line regressed, and the Bears hung tough in what was essentially a meaningless game against a determined team.
All in all, not a bad showing, sacks notwithstanding.
So, no, the Bears aren’t the Milli Vanilli of the NFL?
But they are still a bit of a mystery – not only winning ugly, but losing that way too.
Posted on January 3, 2011
By Mike Luce
Sheldon The College Football Head Coach Serial Killer continues to carve a swath through the ranks of programs large and small. Some coaches have received a stay of execution pending the outcome of an upcoming bowl game while others will be lame ducks – expected to coach out the postseason before bowing under the ax.
Of course, amongst all of distractions a few Legitimately Intriguing Bowls took place this week before the Saturday smorgasbord of games on New Year’s Day.
Posted on January 1, 2011
